they were not focused only on the fiscal cliff. but there is speculation out there, according to one report, that, perhaps, the treasury secretary was asking the senator to pull her her position on taxes, a person familiar with the talks said. that is not accurate. at the white house this afternoon, president obama was talking fiscal cliff and taxes and charged republicans for threatening the economy. >> on wednesday, they voted to hold the middle class tax cuts hostage unless we also spent $1 trillion over the next decade on tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent of americans. in fact, it is worse than that because their plan would raise taxes on 25 million hard-working american families by about $1,000 each. would report the response from speaker boehner, he says top democrats say they willing to let taxes rise on middle-class families and tank our economy and pose threats to our national security the it is reckless and wrong. house republicans are not standing for it. for a few months, it is a stalemate in washington, dc. earth